Fox’s Richard Grenell Claims He Was ‘Uninvited’ to Speak at CPAC
Late last night, Fox’s Red Eye broke a little news about next week’s 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference: Its organizers allegedly “uninvited” former Romney advisor Richard Grenell for a speaking appearance.
Grenell revealed the claim during a segment on how the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), a gay conservative group, allege that this is the third straight year they have been rejected from sponsoring the conference. In a Thursday statement, LCR executive director Gregory T. Angelo said conference organizers (the American Conservative Union) are “hiding behind a fig leaf stating gay people are welcome as guests.
Gay attendees are welcomed by CPAC but LCR alleges the conference has an unspoken ban on “formal participation by gay conservatives as sponsors, panelists, or speakers.” LCR is conservative on most issues except for same-sex marriage. Despite that, the group defended Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson when he came under fire in 2013 for negative statements about homosexuality.
CPAC’s organizers say LCR never actually applied for sponsorship, a process they say is very easy via this website.
But on Red Eye last night, after making clear that he had “nothing to do with” the show’s decision to discuss the CPAC-Log Cabin dispute, Grenell told host Greg Gutfeld that is “terrible” for such a major conservative organization to actively “exclude” its own people. “You win elections by adding people,” he emphasized.
Grenell famously resigned from the Romney 2012 campaign after social conservatives complained about his being openly gay. Gutfeld wondered whether, as such a well-known gay Republican, “Have you ever been invited [to speak at CPAC]?”
“I’ve been before,” a reticent Grenell answered.
And then opened the floodgates. Andy Levy and Gutfeld prodded their guest a bit more:
LEVY: Are you going this year?
GRENELL: I am not going this year.
GUTFELD: Were you invited?
GRENELL: [Pauses] I was invited to speak on a panel and now I am not going.
GUTFELD: Your choice or their choice?
GRENELL: I would have spoken.
GUTFELD: They uninvited you. A little news break there.
Grenell made sure to note that he has a lot of friends at CPAC and does not believe anti-gay beliefs are held by the majority, just that the leadership listens to a vocal minority. He did not explicitly say his alleged un-invitation was the result of his open homosexuality.
ACU leadership told Politico on Thursday, before Grenell’s Red Eye appearance, that “All conservatives, including gay conservatives, are welcome to be at CPAC. In fact, we have invited main stage and break out panelists who are conservative and gay, and we thank them for their contribution to our movement and CPAC 2015.” To that end, lesbian radio host Tammy Bruce and gay syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock will both speak from the conference’s main stage. Neither of them, however, are scheduled to speak on gay-related issues.
CPAC organizers told Mediaite on Friday that they have no record of Grenell having been invited to or uninvited from any speaking engagements this year.
Watch the clip below, via Fox:
[This post has been updated since its original publishing.]
